Many gasoline cans sold today include a short spout which can be threaded onto the can in place of the cap, or in conjunction with a cap, to help pour gasoline from the can in a controlled manner. Many such cans include a short spout which can be turned upside down and stored inside the can, held in place by the cap. The standard spout-retaining cap typically includes a sealing disk which is removed so that the spout can be reversed and extended through the cap for pouring. There are a number of problems with these prior art cap/spout arrangements.
A short spout, coupled with a large, heavy can, is difficult to maneuver and hold for pouring. It is often necessary to hold a can containing several gallons of gasoline in some awkward, difficult-to-maintain position in order to keep the spout in the filler pipe of a fuel tank on a vehicle such as a boat, airplane or snowmobile.
Spouts which are stored inside the can and held in place by the cap are often covered with gasoline when removed and reversed for pouring, which is unpleasant for the user's hands and clothing.
The prior art spout arrangements have a tendency to leak as the tilt of the can approaches vertical. Yet another difficulty lies in controlling the flow of gasoline through the short spout, which dispenses gasoline immediately when the can is tilted.
One prior art attempt to improve on the standard cap and spout arrangement is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,419,467. This device is a combined cap and spout with a twist to open/twist to close mechanism for fine control over the flow of gasoline. This device is trademarked commercially as the Spill Saver.RTM. by Flotool International. The Spill Saver.RTM. spout consists of several sizes of spout adapter which replace the cap on the gasoline call. The adapters are internally threaded on their lower end to be screwed onto the threads on the mouth of the can, and are externally threaded on an upper cylindrical coupling to accept the spout mechanism. The spout mechanism is a two-piece, twist-to-open/close unit with an internal twist valve selectively opening and closing flow to an upper open end comprising a smooth, cylindrical plug or stem which receives a short, flexible piece of spout in a sliding friction fit. The spout is closed at its free end with a simple press-in cap retained on the spout with a flexible keeper strap.
The Spill Saver.RTM. spout is primarily designed to provide twist-controlled pouring. It leaves several of the above-mentioned problems unsolved. For example, it uses a short spout similar to the prior art. It apparently is not sufficiently leak- and vapor-tight to replace the original gas can cap for long term storage; in fact, the directions on commercial packaging say "remove spout when storing and replace with original cap". And because it cannot be left on the gas can for storage, the Spill Saver.RTM. spout requires multiple spout adapters to match different cans.